Perspectives on the beautiful game of soccer; fueled by enormous amounts of coffee

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Costly cards

A one-minute span late in Saturday's Galaxy-Rapids match was costly in terms of red cards and injury. Now, the league has slapped a true value on the flurry of action.

Abel Xavier was sent off in the 89th minute after arguing with referee Abbey Okulaja. He was fined $750 for excessive dissnet and $250 for failure to leave the field. Also, he was fined an additional $250 for post-game public criticism of officiating. Aside from the automatic $250 fine a red card carries and the automatic $100 fine for a yellow card, Xavier was fined a total of $1,600.

Ciaran O'Brien, meanwhile, took out Carlos Ruiz with a viscous tackle moments later. He was sent off ($250) and fined an additional $250. Also, he was suspended for an additional game, which means he must sit out the Rapids' next two games.

Xavier is damn lucky he's still in the league (but for how long?). Even w/o the red cards and dissent, he is a disaster in central defense. My grandparents are better central defenders than he is right now, and they're dead!